A recent YDN article on proposed grading changes was titled “Students hesitant about grading proposals.” I would say “hostile” is more accurate than “hesitant.” Of the 1600+ people who took the YCC’s recent survey, 79% of students are against a 0-100 grading scale, and the same percentage believe that changes to grading will have a negative impact on Yale culture. Unfortunately, because the timing of the YCC’s grading forum last Thursday, I worry that student input will not have a tangible impact on committee and faculty opinion. When YCC Vice-President Danny Avraham BR ’15 asked Professor Ray Fair, ad-hoc committee chair, how the committee will incorporate the YCC’s data, Fair’s response was along the lines of a vague dismissal—he claimed that students with concerns have had plenty of time to contact the committee since the report’s publication. Yet, Avraham’s point was important: this is the only open, comprehensive survey of student opinion on grading that has been done.

Perhaps, we should be blaming both the YCC and the grading committee—the YCC should have tried to create a barometer of student opinion earlier, and students should have been able to interact with the committee well before the report was published. Angry crowds with rambling, unfocused questions are no match for a well-thought out report with months in the making.

That being said, Fair’s responses to several student questions troubled me. When asked what the costs and benefits were of the new system were, he focused on the idea that the one student at the top is short-changed—i.e. they’re hurt from having to “share their A” with other students. This is probably true. The disparity in grades between departments should probably be fixed; having some departments give out 20% As and others 80% As is clearly unfair. However, imposing guidelines as to the number of As a professor “should” be giving bothers all of us. Many students made the point that professors should grade individuals in context of how well they know the material, rather than how they well they did comparatively. If everyone writes a great Civil War essay, give everyone an A. Yalies complain a lot, but I have never anyone complain about “sharing” their A.

Another student asked how new grading policies would impact Yale Admissions. I wish Fair had a better response to this than “Yale already attracts great students” and “better students will want to come here now that they know their As are valued.” This alienated and angered the audience and did not answer the question. Yes, the history and academic excellence of Yale will undoubtedly continue to attract students regardless of grading changes. However, brusque dismissal isn’t the way to treat this question. Yale still competes with other elite institutions to recruit students, and I consider our culture to be a huge selling point. I have told endless numbers of prefrosh that my favorite part of Yale is the collaborative nature of academics, and I want this to continue to be the truth. The committee tries to assure me of this without taking it seriously.

That being said, it could be that the committee’s proposal is the best option. We don’t know because our opinions weren’t asked. It is entirely possible that Fair and the others believe that a 0-100 grading system and additional measures to stop grade inflation will be in the best interests of student life, student learning, and student culture. However, without a student on the committee and such a dismissive view of student opinion, I find it hard to believe and harder to accept.